“Morning, Carey.” “Morning, Dad.” He didn’t look up. “Anything going on this morning?” “Yeah, I think I know where the emperor might be.” Carey slid the paper across the table. Aden read the headline. “Boring machine stalled. Tunnel stopped indefinitely.” Carey leaned forward and propped his chin on his palm. “They claim the machine hit a pipe or something.” “And you don’t think it did?” Aden raised an eyebrow. “I know everyone seems like a conspiracy these days, but don’t you think this is carrying things a little too far?” “Think about it, Dad, what kind of engineers wouldn’t make sure they knew where everything was located before they started drilling. They dragged Bertha, the world’s biggest tunneling machine, underground then hit a well pipe. How believable is that?” Aden snagged a muffin out of the basket on the table.
